With nearly 675+ million users in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide as of 2020, LinkedIn can be your most powerful marketing tool. In a relationship-driven, competitive industry like commercial real estate, ensuring you have a strong personal brand on social media is a critical step toward differentiating yourself as an expert while boosting your credibility and reputation with prospective clients, employers and other industry leaders.

Here are some helpful tips to optimize your LinkedIn profile and build your personal brand online.

Create your personal brand

Creating your personal brand starts with getting organized and asking yourself two key questions: What is your unique value proposition professionally, and what do you want your consistent message and image to be on social media to differentiate yourself as the industry expert?

With this framework, you can then begin to answer your ‘who, what, why and how.’

• WHO you are
• WHAT your credentials and experience are
• WHY your connections should care
• HOW your connections can contact you

Know your audience

Next, think about your current audience, as well as the audience you’d like to appeal to in the future. With your unique value proposition and your audience in mind, you will be able to carefully curate the content that appears in your profile.

Interact with the right digital content

Like, share or comment on posts from your favorite influencers, other industry leaders, and especially your current employer and their direct competitors. If you are feeling more confident in your personal brand, don’t be afraid to distinguish yourself as an expert by creating original content. Use your knowledge and passion to craft a piece that highlights industry trends, celebrates a coworker, or shares your own experience with an industry event, for example.  Your connections will appreciate your authenticity, which will ultimately strengthen your relationships, both short-and long-term, both online and in the real world.

The bottom line – Try following some guidelines, the Colliers way 

BE Enterprising. Use tools to build your brand and lead with your passions. What gets you out of bed in the morning? What resources are available to you that can help you organically market and convey these passions?

BE the Expert. Identify your strengths and talents to make an impact in your industry. What strengths would you like to celebrate? Is it the way you ensure a successful sale? Your ability to network? Your leadership style? Your exceptional customer service? Conversely, what could you stand to improve? Use your network for your own professional development and help others by sharing resources from other experts.

BE Authentic. Your voice, your expertise and your passions are your unique value proposition. Lead with these first and foremost to create your own personal brand vision.

As you can see, there are many benefits to using LinkedIn. With a well curated and optimized profile you can build and maintain your professional network, position yourself as a thought leader in the CRE industry and build your professional reputation.